Budget vs Not-so-budget: the battle of the spring nail coloursfeaturing Barry M, Ciaté & Essie!

The first thing you need to know is that, like most sane people, I reach for my Barry M Ice Creams pretty much as soon as spring starts springing and the gorgeous pastels adorn my nails pretty much constantly until well into summer. It's remarkable that the bottles I own have lasted multiple years (a testament to just how much bang you get for your buck).

The second thing you need to know is that I absolutely 100% cannot wear just one colour at a time. I just can't. I love them all so much that I feel compelled to wear them all at the same time.

See what I mean? Even a year on from this I'm still obsessed.

Today saw me reaching once again for those faithful little bottles, however, I also noticed a few neglected but equally springy colours and decided something must be done.

The Battle

It became a battle of colour vs colour. Budget vs slightly bigger budget. Barry M vs Ciaté/Essie. Why? Well to put it simply... Because I can!

You can instantly tell that the Barry M bottles are in the "much loved" department. Colour wise they are similar but not exact dupes. This is a good thing as I try not to have too much of the same shade in my collection.

Application wise the finish is pretty much the same although I found the Ciaté all needed 3 coats compared to only 2 for the Barry M (except the pinks which all needed an extra 2 coats to their companions). Not great to be honest given that they are double the price full size. The Essie is not my favourite formula but if you have the time to get it opaque you can cover the streaks with some Seche Vite. And there will be streaks as the brush is tiny!

Ok so I might be biased but I'm pretty sure the Barry M has ever so slightly edged into lead but I will definitely make an effort to stop neglecting my other polishes.

I'll let you decide your favourites and leave you with these ridiculously cute nail gems from Nail Rock. Picked up from my local Poundland!

"Brand New Mint In Box"

Of the ways to describe the most premium of items in your makeup collection "Brand New Mint In Box" should not be one of them. One of my most awful habits is buying makeup and then not using it and to my even greater shame it is usually with my most expensive purchases. There is an Alan Carr joke about the extortionate price of a Spanish Onion, the punchline is "when do you save an Onion for best?" This is kind of how I feel about expensive makeup. It's so pretty and so precious that if I get up the courage to actually purchase it, I'm then usually too scared to use it. The pride and shame of this habit is these two items from Dior. The absolutely sublime Dior Skin Nude Tan highlighter which I purchased as a pre-release special edition from House Of Fraser TWO YEARS AGO has sat in box all tightly wrapped up only being shown the light to show off to my friends and family. Yes I do show off my prettiest of pretties to my friends and family...

No Halloween Costume Needed

It's become an accepted norm that once December 1st comes around the nations will don their snowflake print leggings and their novelty jumpers but so far the other seasons are lacking in their effort. Yes, Halloween is famous as being the single greatest costume day of the year but I need October to step and represent in the seasonal apparel game. Thankfully retailers have heard my inner goth cry and have come up with some seriously cute Halloween inspired items. For those who love a slogan tee you have every variation of saying that could possibly be made by rhyming witch with bitch and if you don't say every one of with Emma Roberts' attitude then you need to watch season 3 of American Horror Story immediately! Dressing with the seasons is clearly big money but it doesn't have to cost the world. Here are my choices of how to get into the Halloween spirit all under £30. Boohoo Starting with my favourites because I can! I actually bought the f

The super cuteness of Studio Ghibli nail art

These were done with various Gelish colours over a Hard Gel overlay with embedded glitter. Characters featured are Totoro - My Neighbour Totoro, Soot Sprites - Totoro & Spirited Away, No Face - Spirited Away, and Calcifer - Howls Moving Castle.

FaeriWood

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